Tommy's War: A First World War Diary 1913-1918
Page 25
Monday, 4 March
The Prince of Wales in Glasgow for a few days.24 I have not yet clapped his back.
Tuesday, 5 March
We all at Sam’s for our tea, then we went to his concert in the Town Hall. Tommy lost his first tooth today, one of the bottom set.
Wednesday, 6 March
The ‘City Hall’ commandeered by the Food Control Committee.25 Armed Allan liner Calgarian torpedoed off the Irish coast. 48 lives lost. Cork steamer Kenmare torpedoed. 29 lives lost. The great Irish patriot, John Redmond, dead.26
Thursday, 7 March
Dull day, and most bitter cold wind. Shipping losses serious this week. 18 boats down. Roumania out of the war. Forced to make peace on Germany’s terms. Who next? 20,000 skilled men from the army to be sent to build ships.
Friday, 8 March
Tommy had a holiday today. ‘God bless the Prince of Wales.’ Japan landing troops at Vladivostock. Air raid on London. About 21 killed and 50 injured.
Saturday, 9 March
Tea scarce this week. So is tobacco. I went into town tonight for some literature. At last, heavy fighting on Western Front. Big attacks on British north-east of Ypres. Air raid on Paris. Nine killed. British advance again in Palestine.
Sunday, 10 March
Rose at 7 a.m. Gave Agnes a cup of tea and had a smoke. As it was raining hard, I went back to bed. After dinner I walked through Queen’s Park, Maxwell Park and Bellahouston Park, and took car home from the Toll.27 British airmen drop bombs on Mainz, on the Rhine.
Monday, 11 March
Went to the Govanhill Baths at night and came back in a more godly frame of body. Some shops have actually no tobacco now. Margarine is more plentiful. We are at war. Things lively at Western Front. Stuttgart bombed by British airmen.
Tuesday, 12 March
We entertain tomorrow night, so Agnes did some baking, and I cleaned spoons etc. Big air raid on Paris. 100 killed (including 66 in a panic by suffocation). 79 injured.
Wednesday, 13 March
A British airship passed over Glasgow today, which I saw. It was like a Zeppelin. Tommy also saw it from the school. Hetty and May here when I got home. Sam, Nellie and Willie Kirk came later. We had a night of song. I got four boxes of matches today. Zepp raid on Hull. Big British air raid on Germany (Coblenz) also on Bruges.
Thursday, 14 March
Agnes not up to the mark tonight. She retired shortly after 9 p.m. U-boat menace: 18 ships sunk this week. Zepp at Hartlepool. Five lives lost, nine injured. Air fight in North Sea. Two British machines attack and defeat five German planes. Freiburg (Germany) bombed by British airmen.
Saturday, 16 March
This is Irish Flag Day. We all went out in the afternoon and looked at the shops and thought it would be nice to have a lot of money.
Sunday, 17 March
This is the Day of Saint Pat, of a rotten country.28 After dinner I walked into town and took car to Clydebank. Walked along to Dalmuir. I saw an aeroplane flying about. At the canal I watched about a dozen aeroplanes lying in a field. Just as the aviator was going up, heavy rain came on and he stayed down, and I came home. British airmen again bomb Germany.
Monday, 18 March
The merchant shipping position is very serious. Too many boats being sunk and not enough being built. Serious times ahead. British airmen raid Germany. British net loss in shipping by U-boats to 31 December 1917 is 20%. Net deficit per month 120,000 tons.
Wednesday, 20 March
Got our new meat tickets today. Being sort of absent-minded I paid gas bill today. We all went to Palace at night to be cheered up. Fight between British and German seaplanes in Heligoland Bight. We won.
Thursday, 21 March
Nice warm day, but terribly blowy. Tommy and Agnes out a walk with the Cormacks at night. They have got a ‘plot’.29 Sea fight off Dunkirk. British and French victory. Five German destroyers sunk. We lose none.
Friday, 22 March
World’s shipping loses to end of 1917:
British 7,079,492
Foreign 4,748,080
11,827,572 tons
At last! The great German offensive begins. British fiercely attacked on a 50-mile front.
Saturday, 23 March
By order of the government I put all the clocks an hour forward towards midnight. The great battle goes on. The Kaiser in command. Germans claim 25,000 British prisoners and 400 guns. British line broken near St Quentin.
Sunday, 24 March
After dinner I had a stroll by the Clyde at Shieldhall. I saw a submarine and an American warship in the docks. British pressed back from the St Quentin front. Great slaughter of Germans. British cross the Jordan in Palestine.
Monday, 25 March
Agnes got a new hat today. Tobacco getting very scarce. The firing of the guns of the big battle heard at Dover. Furious fighting at Bapaume. A million Germans flung into the battle. French army into the fight now. Germans report 30,000 prisoners and 600 guns now taken. Paris bombarded by a big gun 75 miles away!
Tuesday, 26 March
Got one ounce of ‘thick black’ today from a tobacconist as a favour. Lull in the big battle. Germans hurrying forward fresh divisions. French hotly engaged. Noyon given up. British lose Bapaume. British destroyer sunk by collision. British minesweeping sloop mined. 66 lives lost. Metz and Cologne bombed by British.
Wednesday, 27 March
Took Tommy at night to Sweeney Todd.30 He got a balloon. German attacks weakening. British reserves arriving on field. German losses are estimated about 400,000. Great British air triumph. In five days we knock down 256 German machines. We lose 32.
Thursday, 28 March
Tommy got his Easter holidays today. Somme battle renewed. Whole front ablaze. British line still intact. We are now on tea and butter rations. We get 4½oz of tea per week.
Friday, 29 March
Dull cold day. Duncan here at night. British holding up the Germans. Great British victory in Mesopotamia. Turkish army wiped out, 5,000 prisoners.
Saturday, 30 March
On my way home from work I met Isa and Jack going to the station. Jack was going to Rothesay with his uncle Sam Ferguson. I saw them to the station. Went out to my tailor in afternoon and got my new trousers. I ordered a new suit also. It is going to be very dear. German long-range gun shells Paris. 75 killed in a church. Big German defeat at Arras.
Sunday, 31 March
Seeing as it is Easter Sunday we had ham and eggs for breakfast. We all went to church in afternoon. Before tea time we took car to Shieldhall and saw all the strange looking boats in the docks.31 Battle raging south of the Somme. Germans claim 70,000 prisoners now and 11,000 guns. British advance in Palestine.
Monday, 1 April
I have a holiday today. We all took train at 2.20 p.m. from the Cross to Coatbridge. Hetty Cook was there. Fierce German attacks south of the Somme. British advance north of Albert. Moreuil recaptured by the French, Canadian cavalry and British infantry. Russia recaptures Odessa from the Germans.
Tuesday, 2 April
The ‘Curfew’ Act comes into force tonight.32 Great anti-conscription riots in Quebec, troops fire on mob. Four killed. British boarding steamer Tithonus torpedoed and sunk. Paris again shelled.
Thursday, 4 April
Heavy rainfall on Western Front.
Friday, 5 April
Went to my hair artist tonight and got some hair removed. German offensive resumed. Very heavy fighting for Amiens. British stand firm.
Saturday, 6 April
Cold day. Some heavy showers. British bomb Luxemburg.
Sunday, 7 April
Sam and Nellie here at night. Sam thinks he is as good as in the army now. Nearly all exemptions are to be withdrawn by the new ‘Manpower’ Bill.33
Monday, 8 April
Bought a soft collar today.34 I am going to reduce the laundry bill. Filled in the ticket that allows us so many ounces of ham per week. This is War Weapons Week: Glasgow intends to raise £2
½ million to buy a super dreadnought.35
Tuesday, 9 April
Nice bright afternoon. Saw the most wonderful sight I ever saw. A dozen aeroplanes giving a display over Glasgow, looping the loop etc. Agnes and Tommy also saw them at Govanhill.
Wednesday, 10 April
Saw the captured German gun in the square today.36 We went to the Palace at night. Great German attack launched between La Bassée and Armentières. British forced back. ‘Manpower’ Bill introduced last night.
Thursday, 11 April
Got our lum swept today and a taste of oil on the ‘whirly’. Saw another display of aviation today. Great battle raging on the whole front. British lose Armentières.
Saturday, 13 April
Cold, wet day. In the afternoon we all went to the square to see the aeroplanes. We saw the square, but the aeroplanes did not appear. We admired the captured German ‘aviatik’, listened to the bands and watched the procession, and then home to tea, likewise to thaw.37 Position on Western Front very serious. The crisis seems at hand now. Haig’s order to the British Army: ‘With our backs to the wall every position to be held to the last man, and there must be no retirement.’38 Gothas raid Paris: 26 killed, 72 injured. Zepps raid England: five killed. Allies raid Zeebrugge.
Sunday, 14 April
After dinner I had a walk through Queen’s Park to Pollokshaws, then on to Kennishead and Thornliebank and Giffnock and car home. Very cold day. Terrific battle. Great German losses. Allied line unbroken.
Monday, 15 April
Tommy got a penny from me for some wonderful new ‘peary’ he was dying for.39 I could get no tobacco in town today. Glasgow’s total for War Weapons Week was £3,000,000. British lose again Neuve Eglise. Fierce fights at Merville.
Tuesday, 16 April
Managed to get one ounce of thick black today, so I bought a brace of clay pipes. British Fleet sweeps the Cattegat. Ten German trawlers sunk. Great fire in Friedrichshafen (Germany). Gotha factory destroyed. 30 squadrons of aeroplanes destroyed. Hallelujah.
Wednesday, 17 April
Got word today that [Claude] Maxwell is wounded in the Big Battle. Shrapnel in the head.
Thursday, 18 April
Agnes and Mrs Carmichael at the Royal tonight.40 I saw German prisoners today. Germans take Passchendaele Ridge and Malern. British line still intact.
Friday, 19 April
Was greatly upset today to hear that James Crichton was killed in action. He fell on 21 March. He is the first of our staff to go. ‘Manpower’ Act now the law of the land. Conscriptions for Ireland and all fit men up to 51 to join up. Germans heavily repulsed at Givenchy.
Saturday, 20 April
Agnes started a new dodge with the sugar allowance. I get a dish with 1/2 lb, she gets one and Tommy gets one and it has to do a week.
Sunday, 21 April
Agnes went to church but she did not get in. Maybe it was overcrowded and maybe she was late. After dinner I walked down the Clyde to Renfrew. Saw the submarine ‘K.7’ at Govan Dock has a coat of ‘camouflage’ paint.41 I crossed over the ferry at Renfrew and home by Partick. Agnes and Tommy at church tonight. Great uproar over Ireland and the Conscription Act.
Monday, 22 April
Tuesday, 23 April
New budget out. Tobacco is going to be dear. Oh help! Great naval raid by British to bottle up the U-boat bases. Zeebrugge bottled up by old cruisers and submarines filled with cement and sunk. Ostend treated same way, though not so successfully.
Wednesday, 24 April
Agnes spring cleaning the bathroom tonight.
Friday, 26 April
The third great battle going on. Germans get a footing on Kemmel Hill.
Saturday, 27 April
We all went to Queen’s Park in the afternoon. Nellie Hamilton and her small child up for a little at night. Having thoughts of making jam, I took a walk over to Sam’s shop and managed ‘quatre livres de sucre’.42 No cheese to be got today. British lose Kemmel but do well south of the Somme.
Sunday, 28 April
Tommy and I went to the Art Galleries. We got no dinner today as the sausages spoke back to us when we looked at them.43
Monday, 29 April
Paid today 8½d for an ounce of thick black and ½d for a box of matches. I never did like the Kaiser. British gain at Festubert.
Tuesday, 30 April
I walked out to Ruglen tonight. Up Mill Street, over Cathkin and back by Burnside. Car from Town Hall home. German bid for Ypres most bloodily repulsed.
Wednesday 1 May
Went to the tooth doctor before tea time and got my teeth faked up. Mount Kemmel heavily shelled by the Allies.
Thursday, 2 May
Agnes and Tommy out at Ruglen seeing Nellie. Tommy got an old barrow of John’s, with a ‘game’ wheel.44 In their absence, Willie Mackenzie in for five minutes for a final goodbye. He is soon for the front.
Friday, 3 May
Mended the wheel of the barrow that belongs to Tommy.
Saturday, 4 May
No cheese this weekend yet. We are to be allowed less beef and more ham. Quiet on the Western Front.
Sunday, 5 May
Lovely sunny warm forenoon, so I dressed in my best, deserted my well-beloved wife and family and walked over Cathkin Braes via East Kilbride Road. Came back by Mill Street and went into the cemetery and had a seat beside poor Lily’s grave. How different things might have been.
Monday, 6 May
I got a telephone message from Lily that her grandma was dead, and I’m to go to the funeral.45 Agnes made rhubarb jam. Sebastopol taken by the Germans.
Tuesday, 7 May
Germans take over the Russian Black Sea fleet.
Wednesday, 8 May
Bought a black tie today.
Thursday, 9 May
Took a half holiday. Went over to Greenlodge after dinner, met Sam and Duncan there. We all went to Riddrie and attended the funeral. Took a walk round by Pollokshields at night. Watched the female soldiers drilling and other warlike articles.
Friday, 10 May
Another great naval raid by British on the submarine base. Ostend blocked. Vindictive filled with cement and sunk in channel. Over 500,000 American troops now in France.
Illustration of an American kissing his wife goodbye as he leaves to join the war in Europe, from Le Petit Journal, 1918.
Saturday, 11 May
We all out for a walk in the afternoon, and looked at the shops, admiring the things we can’t buy. At night I went over to Sam’s shop. Got a little butter and cheese and some sugar to make jam with.
Sunday, 12 May
Rose at 7 a.m. Went out to Ruglen by Ruglen Road and the Green and back by Toryglen. Came back invigorated at 9 a.m. for my breakfast. After dinner we all went to Pollok Estate and basked in the sunshine. We are rationed now for butter and margarine. Now ¼lb of butter and ½lb of the grease has to do us a week.
Thursday, 16 May
Great Italian naval raid. Pola harbour entered. Austrian battleship torpedoed. 12,500 men of the British merchant mercantile marine have been killed by enemy action so far.
Friday, 17 May
Our kitchen gets whitewashed tomorrow. I reverently took down the kitchen clock. Agnes washed our priceless dinner service. British air raid into Germany (Saarbrücken).
Saturday, 18 May
Was not away from my work till after 2 p.m. The man McCort had the kitchen whitewashed when I got home, then Agnes and I girded up our respective loins, and washed paint, windows, floors etc. for the rest of the day.
Sunday, 19 May
Another nice day. Agnes feeling tired so she rested today. I took a walk to Queen’s and Bellahouston parks in the afternoon. British aviators make a big raid into Germany (Cologne). 39 killed, 95 injured.
Monday, 20 May
Agnes starts an offensive on the room.46 Great German air raid over London. 44 killed, 179 injured, seven Gothas destroyed.
Tuesday, 21 May
This is
a holiday so I did no work. I took down the Old Masters in the room in the forenoon, then went out for a stroll. After dinner we all went out. Boarded car at Eglinton Toll, went out to Giffnock, walked through by the quarries to Cathcart and got car home. After tea we went to the Palace. Another British raid into Germany (Landau).